The Native
by Neptunae
Summary: Set a few weeks after the pageant, amidst faulty alarm clocks and the budding relationship between Grace and Eric. But soon things get serious as the FBI discover that although they have caught The Citizen, his followers, led by The Native, are still at l


Disclaimer: I don't own Miss Congeniality or anything connected to it.  
  
Author's Note: This is my first Miss Congeniality fic, and only my third fic altogether.  
  
Reviews are very much appreciated, and constructive criticism is also welcome. But please make it CONSTRUCTIVE- I don't want to hear that you hated it without relevant reasons why.  
  
Other than that, happy reading!  
  
Story: Basically, this is a continuation of the movie. It doesn't start until a few weeks after the movie finishes, though. By that time the fuss over the pageant has died down, and things are back to normal. Grace and Eric are together and have gone out a few times. The Citizen has been found, but the Citizen was just the leader of a handful of other terrorists who are now looking for revenge. Will they get it? Read and find out!  
  
Chapter One  
  
A shrill alarm broke the early morning silence of Grace Hart's apartment, and caused the sole inhabitant to groan loudly and turn over, further tangling herself in the sheets.  
  
'Shut up,' she croaked. 'I'm tired.'  
  
But the alarm persisted, beeping regularly and annoyingly. It refused to be ignored.  
  
Although not thinking straight was perfectly normal for Grace this early in the morning, she couldn't remember setting the alarm. She had nowhere to go this morning- it was a Saturday. So why was the stupid thing beeping?  
  
Grace tried to muffle the sound by pressing her pillow over her head, but to no avail. There was no doubt about it- her new alarm clock was as loud as the guy in the shop had promised. She cracked open an eye and cried out in alarm at the bright light that momentarily blinded her.  
  
She gave another groan, louder this time, and rolled within reach of the clock. Eyes tightly shut, Grace fumbled for the offending object, pushing several miscellaneous objects onto the floor in the process. At last her hand grasped something hard and cold.  
  
'Aha!' she cried triumphantly, feeling for the snooze button as the alarm continued its harsh blaring.  
  
A few moments later, Grace was convinced she had rejoiced too soon.  
  
'Where's the goddamned snooze button?' she asked no-one in particular, blinking as she tried to adjust her eyes to the morning glare. Much as she loathed the idea of opening her eyes, Grace knew she would never find the button withought being able to actually see the alarm clock.  
  
'What kind of cruel joke is this?' she whined, unable to turn the clock off.  
  
At last she was forced to resort to throwing the clock across the room with as much force as she could muster in her weakened morning state. It hit the wall with a thud, and fell to the ground. But the alarm still persisted.  
  
Grace screamed in frustration and thrashed in her sheets, unable to get out. At last she rolled off the bed, hitting the floor hard, and wriggled out of the mess. She crawled across the room and hunted wildly for the clock, following the beeping sound. At last she found it, and, at a loss as to what to do but knowing she never wanted to see the stupid thing ever again, Grace threw it out of her window. Victorious, she slumped against the wall.  
  
'I'm going to murder that salesman.' she muttered. 'It must have been already set. Damn it, I'm completely awake now!' Grace complained, knowing she'd never fall asleep again.  
  
So she hauled herself onto her feet and padded into the kitchen, checking the time on the oven door.  
  
'7:15' she read in wonderment. 'I've never been up before eleven on weekends before.'  
  
Grace thought about having breakfast, but soon dismissed the idea.  
  
'I'm not even hungry yet! What do you DO this early in the morning, anyway?'  
  
Grace shook her head in amazement. She grabbed the phone from the counter and punched in a familiar number. It was a while before she heard a click. Then a tired voice croaked,  
  
'What is it?'  
  
'Eric? It's me.'  
  
'Mum? I talked to you yesterday-'  
  
'It's GRACE, you idiot.'  
  
'Grace? What the- do you know what time it is?'  
  
'It's 7:15.'  
  
'And what are normal people doing at 7:15 on a Saturday morning?' Eric asked incredulously. 'Sleeping, Hart, sleeping!'  
  
'I had a little incident with my alarm clock, and I can't get back to sleep.' Grace informed him, looking out of her window. 'Oh my god- I see people.'  
  
'Dead people?'  
  
'No- live people! Outside! Awake!'  
  
'Good for you, Hart. Can I go back to sleep now?'  
  
'Yeah, whatever. Call me when you get up.'  
  
'Will do. And Hart?'  
  
'Yeah?'  
  
'For the love of god, don't call me at this hour again. It's unnatural.'  
  
Grace sighed and hung up the phone. She took another look out of the window at the couple strolling down the street with their dog and shook her head sadly.  
  
'Wrong. It's just wrong.'  
  
She traipsed back into her bedroom and dug under her bed for some passably clean clothes. Since the beauty pageant, Grace had bought some new outfits in an attempt at caring more about her appearance. She wasn't going to start a whole beauty routine or anything- just tidy up a bit. She'd even bought a hairbrush. But none of that meant that she was going to start being tidy.  
  
At last she dug up something to wear and threw it on. She headed into the bathroom and was attacking the new knots that had formed in her hair overnight when the phone rang.  
  
Grace ran out to the kitchen, almost tripping over last night's pizza boxes in her hurry to grab the phone before the answering machine turned on.  
  
'Hi, its-its Grace,' she said breathlessly, stammering a little over her name.  
  
'Glad to know you remember your name.' a voice commented dryly.  
  
'Eric?'  
  
'Yeah, it's me. Why do you sound like you've just run a marathon?'  
  
'Long story. Why aren't you in bed getting your much needed beauty sleep?'  
  
'Well, this pain in the ass girl I know rang me up at some ungodly hour and I had to get up to answer the phone. Now I can't go back to sleep.'  
  
'Gee, I'm so sorry-'  
  
'No you're not.'  
  
'No, I'm not.' Grace agreed. 'If I have to be up, so do you.'  
  
'So what are you up to? Got time to do something?'  
  
'It's half past seven on Saturday morning. What is there to do, besides walking a dog or jogging?'  
  
'I'm up for some jogging. Can't wait to see you in bike pants.'  
  
'You wish. Listen, I'm going to come over.'  
  
'Oh, are you sure that's convenient for you?' Eric asked sarcastically. 'You can't just invite yourself, you know!'  
  
'Huh!' Grace sniffed.  
  
There was a short silence. Then,  
  
'So do you want to come over?'  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
So should I continue?  
  
There's no action yet, I know- just give me time! Things will get going a bit in the next chapter. I just needed to introduce them and set the scene and all that.  
  
I'm not going to plead for reviews, because I know you're all going to anyway.  
  
PLEASE!!! 


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